Lok Sabha Polls 2024 | Battle of Pawars leaves voters divided

Baramati: Pawars and politics used to be synonymous in Baramati. This has turned into Pawars vs Pawars in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The split in the 25-year-old Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) would be the key factor in Baramati this time and the election battle here is being closely watched across the state and beyond. 

The split has divided families in Baramati, more particularly in the Baramati tehsil-town and neighbouring areas where Pawars meant a united political family. 

It is a direct fight between three-time sitting MP Supriya Sule (54), daughter of Sharad Pawar who now heads the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), and Sunetra Pawar (60), wife of deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar who now commands the 'real' NCP. 

The nearly-five decades of supremacy of Saheb, as Sharad Pawar (83) is popularly known, has been challenged by Dada, as Ajit Pawar (64) is fondly called. 

Thus, it's a fight between Tai (sister) and Vahini (sister-in-law) or Nanad vs Bhabhi — or for that matter between Mulgi (daughter) vs Sun (daughter-in-law).

More than that it is Saheb vs Dada — everyone in Baramati knows that — and the town is reeling under a divided opinion. 

It's also a fight between the ruling  Maha Yuti (NDA) and opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (I.N.D.I.A).

For six decades, Sharad Pawar has been calling the shots in his party, but now the Pawar family is divided because of the BJP's larger game plan to weaken regional leaders. 

"The developments of the last few years have left the people confused and the opinion is divided," said Prof Shashank Mane, who teaches in a Baramati-based educational institution. 

It is not just the Pawar family that is divided. There is division in almost every family in Baramati. In many families, fathers and mothers seek status quo and support Saheb and Tai, but the sons and daughters support Dada and Vahini.

"It is a touch and go situation. And more than the Pawar family, the people of constituency is going to be affected because of a divided Pawar-family as the split runs deep and an immediate rapprochement is not possible,” says Suresh Patil, a middle-aged man who has seen how Baramati has transformed in agriculture, animal husbandry, industries, education, rural development, environment and social sectors. 

This change is referred to as the Baramati Model.

The six Vidhan Sabha segments of the Baramati Lok Sabha seat are Daund, Indapur, Baramati, Purandar, Bhor, Khadakwasla. Among these six seats, two each are with the NCP, Congress and the BJP.

"While we can say that Saheb had sown the seeds of development in Baramati, it is Dada who has nursed it like a mali (gardener). He has executed things on the ground. Dada is rooted to the ground and has a vision to take Baramati to newer heights," said Sachin Satav, chairman of Baramati Co-operative Bank and a close aide of Ajit Pawar. 

However, the loyalists of Senior Pawar feel the other way. "The work of Saheb and Tai would not go unrecognised. They have impacted the lives of every family in Baramati. What we are today is because of Saheb's vision," said Sandeep Gujar, Baramati City NCP (SP) president.

Incidentally, for Satav and Gujar, several members of their respective families are on the opposite side of the battlefield. 

"Yes, the families have got divided in Baramati on political lines and even discussions on politics are avoided," said a local shop owner Suresh Patil,  who says he is undecided and confused.

"The people here are a kind of extended Pawar family. We have never thought that such a thing would happen. It's victory and loss, both...in fact we want both Saheb and Dada with us," adds a local hotelier. 

While the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) have thrown their weight behind Supriye Sule, her cousin Ajit Pawar has the backing of the RSS-BJP election machinery and support of Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.